Zhuzhou Bridge “Update”

You may recall a previous posting about the collapsed overpass in Zhuzhou which was accompanied by two pictures of said collapse. Well, it turns out that those pictures are from a portion of the overpass that was part of the scheduled demolition, not the accidental collapse that caused several deaths (according to the government, but I’ll get to that) and many more injuries that happened about fifteen minutes down the road. Ashley and I returned a couple days after our initial visit, and took this picture of the “real” collapsed bridge:



Seeing the damage, and considering the time of day and location of the accident, it is hard to believe that so few people died (the final death count was only 9). It made me wonder if, perhaps, the governments purposely reported a much lower number in order to, in a sense, push the incident under the rug. I decided to give China the benefit of the doubt, however, and let it be. Then I found this website, and was shocked by some of the comments made by Chinese people:

“3 public buses were crushed, how could there only be 4 [dead].
Television/news channels, keep lying. Continue on lying.
There are at least 100+ and above.”

“The Zhuzhou government is continuously working hard… …continuously working hard to censor and block information!!”

“According to what a friend at the hospital said, that day around 8pm at night, the number of dead confirmed by the hospital was over 80 people, and Zhuzhou government saying only 4 dead is complete bullshit!!!”

“It will disappear within a month from the public’s field of vision”

And my doubts as to the accuracy of the death toll return. Too bad we’ll never know the truth.

Fortune Cookies: The San Francisco Treat

Today I was talking to my mom on Skype when the topic of my brother’s recent field trip to San Francisco’s China Town came up. One of their stops was a fortune cookie factory. I mentioned that fortune cookies are not Chinese, and was surprised to find that my mom did not know this. Which made me realize – a lot of people in America are probably also under the impression that fortune cookies are a “Chinese” cookie. Thankfully for you, I am here to set the record straight:

Fortune cookies did not come from China. In fact, most Chinese people have no idea what a fortune cookie is. You may be surprised to learn that the birthplace of the fortune cookie is much closer to home than many people may realize: San Francisco.

Over time, the fortune cookie has become associated with China and served as a small treat after a meal, but the fortune cookie is actually based off of a Japanese cookie! Furthermore, it may have been first created by a Japanese immigrant, though it has been disputed over who invented the cookie, and the exact year in which it was created.

So how did this Japanese inspired (and possibly invented) cookie become Chinese? Sometime around World War II, when many Japanese-Americans were being forced into internment camps, the fortune cookie business switched hands and became dominated by Chinese-Americans. Then, after the fortune cookie machine was made, making it possible to mass produce the cookies, they became even wider spread and popular, eventually becaming the crispy dessert we all look forward to after dining on Chinese cuisine.

So next time you crack open a fortune cookie, think of all the poor children in China who will never know of this great San Francisco treat.

Zhuzhou Bridge is Falling Down...

Okay, so it's not a bridge as much as an overpass. And it's not falling, it fell. But onto the story...

You knew our here has had a bridge to collapse?

When I received this message from a student via QQ (a popular messaging program in China), I was confused, to say the least. A bridge collapsed? Where? When?

The next day, Ashley called me with new information. The bridge, actually an overpass, in busy HongQi Square, located about 5 minutes by bus up the street from where we teach, collapsed around 4pm the day before (Sunday, May 17th) killing 4 people and injuring 20 more. What makes this incident especially tragic is that the bridge was due to be demolished just three days after it collapsed.

Later that afternoon, Ashley and I rode the bus past our normal stop to check out the damage:





You can also check out some pictures from right after the accident in this article.

The Great Firewall of China.

Before coming to China, I was aware that the Chinese government barred access to various sites on the World Wide Web. Upon arriving in China, however, I found that, while some sites were, in fact, blocked, most of the sites that I frequent were untouched (YouTube, Facebook, Blogger, etc.) as well as many popular news pages (NY Times, BBC, CNN, etc.). So, for the first several months, the so-called “Great Firewall of China” didn’t seem to affect me.

Then, as the months passed, I started to notice. While searching for images on Google for lessons plans (keep in mind, the images I generally search for are along the lines of “chair,” “sun,” or “basketball”), the pages would time out, failing to load all the pictures, and then, after pressing refresh several times, would just show a blank white page. Ten minutes later, I would try again. It would be fine…and then, like clock-work, the cycle would begin again. As if lesson planning wasn’t hard enough…

Then, a few months ago, after several “false alarms” (1-2 day ‘mini-blocks’) China has blocked YouTube. Honestly, it wouldn’t be a big deal (I use Chinese based video sites more often, anyway), except that every time I log onto Facebook (which has so far managed to escape the GFC), there is at least one person who’s status reads something along the lines of “OMG. This video is hilarious! " Yeah, I bet it is funny...TOO BAD I CAN’T SEE IT!

Now China has taken it a step further and blocked Blogger.com! What’s next? Facebook? NY Times? (Probably).*

The one bit of light in this whole situation is that, even though China has blocked these sites, I can still access them through a proxy (which is how this entry got posted). Unfortunately, the proxy cuts out many of the frills of Blogger (uploading photos, videos, or otherwise editing my posts). So now I must go brush up on my basic HTML and see what I can do in terms of “beautifying” my blog.

Once again, thanks for making my life more difficult, China. :-P**



* The Beijing Olympics played a role in the unblocking of so many sites. Unfortunately, now that the Olympics are months in the past, it seems that China is re-blocking some of these sites.
** I’m really not that bitter. Just frustrated.

我的生日 - My Birthday: Part 2

The day after my birthday, on Friday, I celebrated with my foreign friends. We met at 6:30pm and walked to one of my favorite restaurants where we dined on cumin beef, potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, tofu, pork and peppers, and, of course, rice.

After dinner, we went to the "English Fun Fair" to use the free tickets that one of the men working there gifted me two days before when I walked over to check it out (a student of mine mentioned that there were "English games" in Yandi Square and 8 English people running it, so I had to see what it was - basically a small carnival with rides and games, and, yes, Englishmen).

We rode the carousel - the fastest one I have ever been on! - and chatted with the foreigners running the carnival. One of them even gave me a stuffed dog (I got to choose from the many stuffed animals hanging from the game booths) as a birthday gift!

The night didn't end there, however. We eventually made our way back to my apartment where Tiffany and David made my birthday "cake" - delicious flat breads with sweetened condensed milk and Hershey's chocolate syrup (a gift from Ryan and Bridget)!

Eventually, around 12:30am, fatigue set in and everyone headed home, and I, another year older, went to bed.

我的生日 - My Birthday: Part 1

Amy, Ashley, and me.

Yoko and Slinna.

This past week I celebrated my 23rd birthday. On Thursday, my actual birthday day, I invited my Chinese teacher friends out to dinner. As is customary in China, the person who does the inviting is generally expected to foot the bill. For this particular meal, the total came to just over 90 kuai - or around $13 USD - for all five of us.

Cinco de Mayo - China Style!

In celebration of Cinco de Mayo, we decided to have a "Mexican" fiesta. Though our supplies are limited - no beans, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, tortilla chips, tortillas, etc. - we (and when I say we, I mean Ashley, Ryan, and Tiffany) were able to make a pretty delicious meal of "Mexican" jiao zi (dumplings with corn, chicken, Mexican seasoning, etc.), rice, chips (baked jiao zi wrappers) and salsa (mild and spicy - delicious!), and dessert!

Amy and Vicky enjoying dessert.

In addition to the foreign Jooge crew, two of our Chinese friends (Amy and Vicky) also joined the celebration. I provided the music - a mix of Latin songs, including the Macarena, which Bridget and I taught Amy and Vicky:


Overall, the night was a great success. Good conversation, good music, and, as always, good food.

Viva Mexico!

Full Body Foot Massage

Tiffany, Ashley, and me relaxing before the massage.

One of my favorite parts about living abroad in Asia is the relative cheapness of...pretty much everything. I can get a bowl of noodles for under a dollar* or a full meal at a restaurant for just $2.50. An ice cream is 25 cents. A DVD, 73 cents. And, maybe the best of all, an 80 minute massage for $8.

This past weekend, I met up with some friends for a foot massage at one of the upscale massage parlors in the city. When we arrived, they showed us to our room - a medium size room furnished with four really comfortable, reclining chairs. We took off our shoes, hung up our bags, and sat back as the masseuses brought in tubs of hot water to soak our feet in and hot tea to sip on. Then the massage began.

Don't be fooled by the name, though. It may be called a "foot" massage, but the massage extends to the arms, hands, legs, and back. It was 80 minutes of (occasionally painful) bliss.

And for less than $10, it is a luxury I can actually afford.


*Prices have been converted to the USD equivalent for your convenience.

What I do in my free time:

Chinese teachers are required to be at school all day, regardless of whether they have class or not. They see each of their classes everyday and thus have to lesson plan daily. Many days when I come in, they are piled under stacks of homework that need to be graded. As a result, my Chinese teacher friends are often tired and stressed out.

As foreign teachers, however, we are only required to be at school when we have class, which means that most days I don't come into the office until after 1pm. Also, since I only see each class, at most, once a week, I only have to plan one lesson per week. In other words, I have a lot of free time.

Last fall, many of the foreign teachers in Zhuzhou, myself included, took up a new hobby: cross-stitching. Though I stopped for awhile (mainly because of my Spring Festival travels), I have recently re-taken up this newfound hobby. Just last week, I completed my second cross-stitch, a wall hanging that says "Buddha Heart" or something to that extent. Next to it, in the picture, is my original one that I completed over the winter. It is a pillow case that says "fu." In English that means, "good luck, happiness, or good things" according to my liaison, Amy.